


Definitely a Pre-Planned Surprise

by Skalicia



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underswap (Undertale), Underswap Sans (Undertale), happy birthday ink, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:41:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23680252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skalicia/pseuds/Skalicia
Summary: It's Ink's birthday! What better way to celebrate it than with a friend?
Comments: 5
Kudos: 14





	Definitely a Pre-Planned Surprise

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place in an au of mine with a swap Sans that's called Autumn, just so nobody's confused to who that is when he gets mentioned. I've had ideas for writing a story for this au on the backburner, but felt like Ink's birthday would be a fun time to break it out.

Ink loved his dreams. Whenever he was lucky enough to have one, they were so strange and fun. His favourite part was always the non-voices he would sometimes feel. They weren’t voices like the glitchy one he’d have fun with, rather, they were something he more understood than really perceived. It was strange, but they always soothed him in a way he couldn’t put to words. Currently, he was feeling really loved as they seemed to overlap and mix in excitement for a birthday.  _ His _ birthday. Was it his birthday? It must be with how excited they were, and despite the fact that they were part of his dreams, they weren’t wrong about dates. He was half-convinced they were some unconscious part of himself that remembered what he couldn’t.

Waking up, he felt full of energy and couldn’t help the laugh that pulled itself from him. Rolling over, he grabbed his phone off the nightstand and turned it on to text his best friend Autumn about how he couldn’t believe he forgot it was his own birthday today. Speaking of Autumn, he was the one who was helping Ink with some of his memory issues. While his memory was getting better as of late, the tips that Autumn gave him were a nice aid as well. Like keeping the important stuff in the same place so he wouldn’t lose it. He was pretty sure he’d lost his keys and needed to call in Autumn for help more times than the other would remind him of. At least Autumn seemed to have a knack for finding whatever Ink had lost. He wasn’t sure where he’d be without his friend. Probably a hospital that could help him with his soul’s unique condition and the moments when he seemed to lose touch with reality.

Shaking his head he bounced out of bed and over to his closet. If it was his birthday then he should probably dress up, right? Shuffling through the options, he paused when he caught sight of clothing that looked like the stuff he wore in his dreams. Had that always been there? Probably. His poor memory extended to a lot and he was pretty sure he had two of the same shirt somewhere in there. Well, since it was his birthday, he might as well get to dress up like his dream self. Maybe it could pull the comfort of the non-voices along with him during his day. It wasn’t like he had anything to lose as he pulled on the clothes.

He only paused when he got to the overalls. He really didn’t want to wear them normally, but what if that caused them to fall while he was doing something? His mismatched eyelights glanced back at his closet as an idea sparked in his head. Reaching into its depths he pulled out one of his sweaters. It was a pretty space-themed one that briefly made him recall that glitchy voice from his dreams. Something about stars felt tied to both that and clouds for some reason. He pushed the unimportant thoughts from his mind as he set about tying the jacket around his waist in order to avoid some sort of belt. To do so, he needed to stick the straps of his overalls in his mouth. Was it more work than just wearing the thing normally? Probably. Did he care? Not really. Once satisfied with that, he dropped the suspenders to let them hang. The jacket was definitely a better idea than a belt. It had pockets, and that was definitely a big plus compared to belts. He’d probably be a bit lost without as many pockets as possible for carrying things.

Grabbing his scarf with the rainbow stitching that curled up from the ends and his headphones with stars that slowly faded between the colours of the rainbow when on, he twirled over to the mirror on the back of his door. Between the doodles on the reflective surface, he marvelled at how alike and yet different this was from the figure that he became in his dreams. The headphones sitting on his scarf and the jacket were obvious differences. Ones that would be matched by his space shoes with the fun little rainbow stars that lit up if he stepped hard enough once he was ready to leave the house for the day. His scarf was smaller than the one that was big enough for him to write notes on in those dreams as well. Beyond all that, it took him a moment to recognize the feeling of something being missing until one of his hands twitched up to his chest. A snicker left him as he shook his head as he realized he was feeling that missing feeling for that sash of vials and that giant paintbrush he always had with him in his dreams. As cool as they were, they didn’t seem like they’d be very practical. It was just one of those times when fantasy and reality had blurred in his mind again is all.

Well, since his hand was already over his chest, he didn’t see any harm in giving his soul a quick checkup before going off to do something else. The thing was always strangely slippery and he took a minute to snatch it and tug it out into the open air before him. His brows creased with a frown as he took in the “colour bleeding,” as Autumn referred to it. Ink wasn’t sure why his soul wouldn’t stay like a normal monster's and just stay white with a faint aura of some colour, but it’d been a problem for a while. While most of the soul was white, the edges were instead filled with more defined colours that wouldn’t mix together. Autumn had some explanation for this, but Ink couldn’t remember it for the life of him. Well, he’d just have to make a note on his phone to mention this to Autumn.

As if just thinking of it had woken it, Ink’s phone let out a loud buzz that had the artist jumping. The wood of the nightstand making it louder than it had any right to be at least clued him in to where he’d left it. Eager for whatever was making it make noises, he made it across the room faster than he was pretty sure he should’ve been able to. It was a text from Autumn!

*fall* before him: Well that would have made my gift an even bigger surprise   
Me: :O   
Me: prez!!   
*fall* before him: I’ll be at your place soon   
Me: ye~

Ink giggled as he sent a few obscure emojis off to his friend. He could practically feel Autumn rolling his eyes as he refused to respond to them.

Letting his friend have a break, Ink instead went to his music app as he pulled his headphones onto his skull. Autumn had posed the idea that listening to music could help him remember things that he’d heard before when listening to that same song. He wasn’t sure how well it was working, but being able to choose his own background music was fun. He even had a playlist for different “bosses” he came across. He even had a playlist for situations he’d probably never get into, but he wanted to be prepared for, just in case.

Placing his phone in his pocket, he danced his way towards the front door. His space shoes awaited him! They’d been called childish, but he’d just returned any attempt to ask if he was too old to wear them with sticking out his tongue in return. Obviously the very mature response to give.

* * *

“Can I look yet?” Ink whined, clinging to Autumn as the other guided his blindfolded form along.

Laughter was his first response, followed by a pat on his arm. “YOU HAVEN’T BEEN WEARING THAT BLINDFOLD FOR  _ THAT _ LONG,” Autumn reminded.

Ink groaned, “I know, but it feels like it’s been  _ forever _ . I just wanna see the birthday surprise!” This only pulled more laughter from his friend, which had him pouting. Since they were downtown, there were so many things Autumn could be leading him to. It didn’t smell like food, though it did smell familiar, and it didn’t sound crowded. In fact, he couldn’t hear anyone other than them over his faint music. That was strange considering he was sure they’d entered a building at some point. Didn’t people usually at least acknowledge you when you entered a business? “Are we there yet?” he pushed.

“I SUPPOSE…” sighed Autumn.

Ink began to vibrate slightly. “Does this mean I can take off the blindfold?”

“IF YOU’RE REALLY THAT IMPATIENT.” The words had barely left Autumn as Ink reached up to pull at the fabric blocking his sight. “YOU’RE ACTING LIKE YOU ATE SUGAR FOR BREAKFAST,” Autumn accused before hesitating. “YOU… YOU DIDN’T DO THAT AGAIN, RIGHT?”

While Ink might’ve normally thrown some joke back at his friend, he was too busy staring with a slightly slack jaw at the large open room they were standing in. “Is… Is this…?” He couldn’t get words out as he began to vibrate.

“IF YOU WERE GOING TO ASK IF IT WAS YOUR VERY OWN ART STUDIO, THEN YES.”

Ink spewed forth from the skeleton who had the substance as his namesake. There was no doubt in his mind that his eye lights were probably switching erratically. His hands fumbled into his pockets, barely managing to hold himself from running off into the room long enough to fish out his phone so he could change his music to fit this glorious moment.

“THERE’S ALSO A SPACE FOR IF YOU WANT TO SELL ANYTHING UP FRONT!” Autumn called after him. “I’LL PROBABLY BE UP THERE WHEN YOU’RE DONE RUNNING AROUND!”

“Okay!!!” Ink managed to focus long enough to call back before turning back to his exploration. He couldn’t believe that Autumn had gotten him his very own studio for his birthday! Stars, he felt like he was going to let out more ink. Had he even cleaned up that first spill?

He made his way back to the black stain, barely holding in more. He couldn’t hold it anymore when he reached his destination. At least it was in the same place. That made clean up easier. There were some empty buckets off to the side, so he walked over to grab one of them and set it next to the puddle. With that ready, he reached out to that instinct that lingered in his bones. It was a strange power of his that he’d discovered some time after his soul had started to have issues. Something that felt like it completely avoided his soul. Well, despite how strange it was, it felt right, and it made cleaning messes like this a breeze. Reaching out the puddle lifted itself from the ground and even out of his clothing. Not a single bit of evidence that it had been spilt remained as he guided it to carefully collect in the bucket. Proud of his work once that was done, he decided to leave the bucket where it was as he went back to his exploration.

From the corner of his socket, he thought he saw something white hanging in a darker corner, but when he turned to face it there was nothing there. Confused, he moved towards the area, feeling more unsure about this as his song ended and no new one began. While there was probably some logical explanation for as to why that had happened, it didn’t stop making things feel really ominous and off. His curiosity overpowered the unease as he slunk towards the corner.

Oddly enough, a faintly glowing, short piece of string about as long as his hand lay on the floor there. He tilted his head at it. Not at all what he was expecting, but the sight of it felt familiar. Like it was something he should know despite his poor memory. It bugged him in a way that his memory issues normally didn’t. Picking it up didn’t help either. Just that feeling of  _ knowing _ this string growing stronger along with some itching in his bones that he  _ couldn’t _ tell Autumn about this. Strangely enough, some itch of unease and fear grew at the thought of talking about the string with his friend. The feeling like that of the same instinctual level as his strange ability to have control over liquids. Clutching it close to his chest, his sternum faintly burned, like there was something wrong that he should know about. It wasn’t an actual pain, more like an echo of one he’d experienced before. He had no idea what sort of pain he should be remembering, and it bugged him in the same way that not being able to place the string was.

Gently, he slid the string into one of his empty pockets. As he stood up, he carefully patted at it as if he’d be able to feel the string in there like he could feel his phone in its pocket. He didn’t want to lose it. It felt like he needed to keep it, and that Autumn knowing about it was somehow the worst thing he could do.

He wasn’t sure what compelled him, but he pulled out his soul. That made the burning in his sternum worse, as if somehow it didn’t like his soul or agree with its existence. It was strange, just like the way the colour bleeding in his soul was worse. Instead of the proper white, it was becoming more of a swirling of the rainbow with just a white center. He should call out to Autumn, get his friend to come to help fix his soul, but his voice was stuck in his throat. Surprisingly, he found that a part of him didn’t want Autumn to do so, but he had no clue why. His friend was great and nothing but helpful! So why didn’t that calm the anxiety buzzing along his bones?

“INK? INK ARE YOU OKAY? YOU’VE BEEN IN THERE FOR A WHILE, AND IT’S DEFINITELY WAY QUIETER THAN I THOUGHT YOU’D BE,” Autumn’s voice carried across the large room that had only art supplies. Ink wasn’t that hidden, so it wouldn’t take him long to find where Ink was hunched over his soul.

Fingers twitching, Ink’s breathing hitched strangely when for a moment he saw a glitchy mess that was pulling itself apart before him instead of his soul. It was gone when he blinked, but it made his finger itch to dig into the surface of his imperfect soul  just like he did with his original soul .

Teal gloves gently coaxed his soul from his hands, and Ink couldn’t find it in himself to fight them. Something in him screamed that he should be fighting this, but it was senseless noise getting slowly garbled in his mind as new thoughts began to rise.

Autumn had his soul, he was fine. His friend was going to fix the problem with it. There wasn’t anything to worry about.

He could feel his soul return to him, a soothing calm related to the feeling evening out his breathing. When had that gotten sporadic? Ink blinked, slowly looking around, trying to remember where he was and what was going on. A familiar set of teal gloves and a matching teal bandana had a bit of confusion spread through him. “Au...tumn?” A soft smile grew across his friend’s face.

“I’M VERY GLAD YOU’RE OKAY. YOU… YOU ARE OKAY, RIGHT?” Gentle concern passed across Autumn’s face.

Ink gave a reassuring smile as he nodded. “I think so? I’m not really sure what would’ve made me not okay, but I guess I must’ve zoned out for a while for my music to not be playing anymore.” A small laugh left him. “Were you going to cry in worry over me?~”

Autumn’s cheeks puffed up in an adorable way with indignation. “FORGET I ASKED ABOUT YOUR WELLBEING. OBVIOUSLY YOU ARE FINE AND THERE WAS NO REASON TO WORRY.” Ink laughed louder, delighted his teasing was getting a reaction. He didn’t know what happened, but he could ask Autumn about it after having some more fun teasing him.

**Author's Note:**

> Definitely nothing strange here~ uwu
> 
> As always, feel free to drop by [my tumblr.](https://skaliciascribbles.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Off to go write something for Fresh's birthday!~


End file.
